TARIF: The Broken Window Fallacy in Africa

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Tuesday, August 22^nd, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

The Broken Window Fallacy in Africa

South Africa is 5^th in the worldwide Crime Index. Somalia is #12, Nigeria is #14, with three more African countries filling out the top 20. But is this really bad news? Perhaps there’s a silver lining. Doesn’t crime create jobs?

If there was less crime, security guards would lose their jobs. Without significant theft, steel manufacturers and welders would have no work because citizens would have no need for burglar bars on their doors and windows. The profits of businesses that sell razor wire, security cameras, stun guns, and padlocks would plummet. Brick masons who build security walls would lose their livelihoods. Couldn’t we then say that crime is beneficial at least in creating jobs? Couldn’t we say crime brings financial good to a country?

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TARIF: No Satellite Internet For South Africa Because of Racial Quotas

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Tuesday, August 8^th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by David de Bruyn and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

No Satellite Internet For South Africa Because of Racial Quotas

Elon Musk’s company Starlink, provides high-quality internet service via satellite to most places on earth. Many African countries have signed agreements with Starlink including Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Mozambique. It is likely that most of the African continent will have issued licenses to Starlink by the end of 2024. But not South Africa.

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TARIF: African Women in Combat

Posted on August 4, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Friday, August 4^th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

African Women in Combat

Last month at the International Association of Women Police, Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa urged the women of his country to take a greater role in fighting his nation’s problems with crime. Under the guise of “women’s empowerment”, the conference gathered thousands of senior women police officers from around Africa, from countries like Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Malawi.

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TARIF: Gas Explosion in Downtown Joburg and Towers of Siloam

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Tuesday, July 25th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

Gas Explosion in Downtown Joburg and Towers of Siloam

On the 19^th of July, in downtown Johannesburg, an underground explosion tore through a long stretch of road in South Africa, killing one person and leaving two others critically injured. The blast happened during rush hour, just as people were gathering in the streets to catch mini busses and taxis for their return home. A surveillance camera shows the massive eruption lifting the paved road off the ground, breaking the asphalt to pieces and flipping over dozens of cars. Besides those that were killed or critically injured, another 34 people were harmed and taken to the hospital.

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TARIF: Sudanese Strife and the Climate Change Conundrum

Posted on July 18, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Tuesday, July 18th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Mark Christopher and presented by Yamikani Katunga

Strife in Sudan

On April 15, 2023 fighting erupted in Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum. The fighting quickly spilled over into other regions of the troubled nation. After the overthrow of long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir in October 2021 there has been a power vacuum that has sparked growing tensions between the Sudanese Army and the rival para-military faction known as Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The carnage of Sudan’s war is beginning to mount and take its toll on the general population. There are the usual tragic reports of hunger, rape, disease, broken supply chains, and causalities with over 3000 deaths being recorded in the last few weeks alone. In recent days, there was a total communications blackout in Khartoum and the surrounding areas with residents forced to flee because of aerial bombings and tanks and soldiers fighting in the streets while rampant looting took place. It is estimated that 2.4 million Sudanese people have been displaced so far with refugees pouring into surrounding border countries like South Sudan, which has its own civil war uprising.

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TARIF: The Rotten Fruit from Affirmative Action

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Friday, July 14th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga

The Rotten Fruit from Affirmative Action

This month marks the 20^th anniversary that the Maputo Protocol was adopted, a women-specific document urging affirmative action on behalf of females in Africa.

This document lists a number of women’s rights, including the right not to be discriminated against, which according to this document, means that “states are required to integrate a gender perspective in their policy decisions.”

Here we see again the evils of affirmative action at play, this time not in relation to race but to gender. This is not about equal opportunity. It is about forcing equality.

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